U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., has sent a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins asking why the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has not implemented several Office of Inspector General recommendations on its EHR modernization program.
The open recommendations, issued between 2022 and 2025, call for stronger real-time data-sharing controls for major performance incidents, better stakeholder coordination on the program’s development schedule, and full upload of records from the Joint Longitudinal Viewer into the EHR. In the Aug. 4 letter, Mr. Baumgartner asked Mr. Collins for a timeline to close the gaps as the VA speeds up deployments to additional medical centers, writing that “it is important that these longstanding oversight concerns are addressed.”
In a statement to Becker’s, the VA said it has closed the majority of EHR-related OIG recommendations, including 20 since the start of the Trump administration, and is continuing to work with oversight partners to resolve the remaining recommendations.
The department also pointed to recent progress on the EHR rollout. Between early April and early June, the agency more than doubled the number of VA medical centers using the federal EHR, from six to 14, and increased the number of clinics using the system from 26 to 75. The VA said it has made more than 13,000 improvements to the EHR’s performance, usability and capabilities.
The VA also criticized the pace of the program under the Biden administration, saying it had been left “nearly dormant for almost two years,” and said the project is now back on track under President Donald Trump and Mr. Collins.
More than 29,000 clinicians and front-line staff are now using the EHR to provide care to more than 515,000 veterans, according to the department. The VA said the first six sites are meeting or exceeding pre-go-live productivity metrics and that the system has experienced no outages in the past 12 months.
The VA established an accelerated deployment schedule in 2025 and plans to deploy the federal EHR across all VA facilities by 2031.
At the Becker's 11th Annual IT + Revenue Cycle Conference: The Future of AI & Digital Health, taking place September 14–17 in Chicago, healthcare executives and digital leaders from across the country will come together to explore how AI, interoperability, cybersecurity, and revenue cycle innovation are transforming care delivery, strengthening financial performance, and driving the next era of digital health. Apply for complimentary registration now.
